At Second Blush
Mother of the Bride Series - Part II
A Brio AU Story
Chapter One: 12 Weeks
Beth was nervous.
Standing outside of her daughter's new home after ringing the bell - Rio to one side of her and a seemingly always happy and excited Marcus to the other, she waited for the door to be answered, all the while the secret inside of her growing with every second that ticked by. And wasn't that a staggering… yet amazing thought? But Beth couldn't focus on that - at least, not now. Now was about Kensley. Kensley was the one who called for the family dinner. Kensley was the one who had news. And Beth wouldn't be that mom who stole her daughter's spotlight.
When Dean opened the door with a huff of annoyance and a glare already withering for Rio and Marcus, Beth was taken aback - not by her ex-husband's animosity but by his presence alone. It had been more than three months since she met and started dating Rio, but during that time, Dean had all but… faded from Beth's life. Even though she hadn't cared about Dean like that in decades - if ever, it was extraordinary how allowing herself to have a second chance at love and life had completely diminished the shadow Dean and her former, short marriage to him had cast over her… so much so that it hadn't even occurred to her when Kensley asked for a family dinner that he would be there, too.
But of course Dean was there. He was Kensley's father. "Kens," Dean yelled for their daughter, not moving out of the doorway to allow them entrance. "Your mother, her thug, and the future hoodlum are here. Have you hidden your Grandmother's silver yet?"
While Marcus quietly whispered, "what's a hoodlum," and Rio visibly bit his tongue and clenched his fists to hold himself back, it was Beth who snapped, "what the hell is wrong with you, Dean? Tonight is about Kensley, not you. But if you can't act like an adult for two hours during dinner, at least have the decency to attack me, not a child!"
"Attack, Mom, really?" Kensley joined them at the door. It was still summer, so letting that much central air escape into the heat and humidity of outside should have been a crime. "That seems a little dramatic. You know Dad's just joking around," her daughter even added a strained laugh for effect, though it fell flat. It was just as obvious that she didn't find Dean funny as it was to Beth that her ex-husband had not been in jest. "Him and his sense of humor!"
"So, are we eatin' on your front steps or…," Rio prompted in an attempt to move both the moment and the evening forward.
"Oh!," Kensley exclaimed, slightly embarrassed. She was, after all, half Beth's. "Yes, of course. Since you're here, I guess you can come in as well."
As soon as Dean stepped back far enough for them to cross the threshold, Rio closed the door and Beth nodded towards Marcus who held out two very distinct bottles. He had insisted upon carrying them for her. "These are for you," she told her daughter. "You said you had news, so I thought we might be celebrating tonight?"
Kensley smiled demurely. "I think it's good news." She passed the champagne and the sparkling grape juice to her father. "Would you put these in the fridge for me, please? Thanks, Dad," she added once Dean started to walk away.
Wringing her hands together when she turned back to face the three of them, Kensley admitted anxiously, "so, I wasn't expecting this many people." It wasn't a nervous anxiety, though; it was a more discreet way to complain that Beth had not come alone. Judging by the cars parked in the driveway, it was only the three of them, Kensley and Aaron, and Dean. The only two outliers… as far as Kensley was concerned… were Rio and Marcus. "I'm not sure if there will be enough food."
Considering that one of Beth's mottos for life was that you always make extra food… just in case and so that you'd have leftovers, she knew that Kensley was lying. "Annie and Ruby didn't say anything about coming tonight, so I assumed it was just your immediate family," Beth played innocent. If Kensley was going to complain about Rio and Marcus being there, she wasn't going to hide behind Dean's incivility or her own lies. "Who else are we waiting for?"
"No one. I did mean my immediate family."
"And we're here," Beth said with a tight, terse smile.
"Don't worry about feedin' us," Rio cut into the tense moment. "I'm not that hungry, Marcus is picky, and…"
"No, I'm not!," Marcus contradicted with a frown. "I eat everything Beth makes for me. I just don't always ask her what's in it."
Like his son had never interrupted, he finished, "... and your Mom is too keyed up about school possibilities to eat."
If Beth hadn't already been so annoyed - such a wonderful day undermined in just a few minutes, she might have noticed her daughter's strange reaction to Rio's words. Kensley wasn't appreciative of the save Rio was so graciously offering her or even irritated that he was involving himself at all. Instead, she looked confused. If Beth had been more aware at that moment, she might have been able to save them all from the disaster they were heading into.
Before anything more could be said, Aaron was popping his head around the corner and asking, "hey, Kens? What's the holdup?"
"Nothing," Kensley responded absently.
Beth's daughter's name was Kensley. It was bad enough that, even when he was disappointed that she failed to honor his recently deceased father by giving him a son, Dean had insisted that they name their child after his (kind of awful) dad. But then Dean had to go and shorten it to Kens, stripping the name of any femininity and originality, and now Aaron was using it, too?
Seemingly shaking herself out of her preoccupation, Kensley turned around and made her way towards her husband, apparently expecting Beth, Rio, and Marcus to follow. "We're coming."
"Should I put the burgers on the grill now or…?"
"Let's… talk first," Kensley decided. "I don't think I could eat a bite until everyone knows, anyway."
Aaron agreed with a happy smile, and then the five of them made their way into the kitchen. Kensley's breakfast table only had four chairs, and there was no island, so a couple of stools couldn't just be dragged over. The choice to use the kitchen table over the dining room table which seated six even without the leaf and additional chairs seemed intentional and pointed. Dean was already seated, and Kensley slid in next to him, leaving just two remaining chairs, four people, and no jaunty music. At least Aaron had the decency to look at Rio in offering before Kensley took him by the hand and practically pulled him down into the chair on her other side. She was obviously trying to force Rio and Marcus out of the conversation, out of the room, and out of their lives. But that hadn't happened yet, and it sure as hell wasn't going to happen now.
"Sit, Mama," Rio murmured to her softly, nodding his head towards the open chair. "I'll stand behind you, yeah?" And he meant it in every way.
If they were anywhere else, Beth knew that Rio just would have hopped up and sat on the counter, but, for her sake, he was on his best behavior that evening - always was when they were around her daughter. Beth, however, was not holding herself to such a standard. Knowing it would irritate both Kensley and Dean but frankly not caring at that point - if they didn't like it, then they could find some more chairs, Beth pushed away from the table and patted her sundress covered lap. "Will you sit with me, Marcus?"
Despite being eight, Marcus had absolutely no compunction about showing affection, and just like Annie still did, he loved curling up in Beth's lap. Having met his extended family, she knew that Marcus was surrounded by love and warmth, but there was just something about the softness of her snuggles, according to her sister, that set Beth's embrace apart. So, with a happy, pleased grin, Marcus readily climbed onto her legs, squirming with that little, bony butt of his - just like his father's - until he found the perfect position. Once he was comfortable, he practically melted back against her, and Beth wrapped her arms around his middle, giving him an extra little squeeze. Marcus giggled.
And Kensley looked on in complete dismay.
"So, what's going on," Dean asked in his affable, dopey way. He was completely oblivious to the undercurrents of emotion flowing from his daughter. "I saw potato salad in the fridge when I was putting the bubbly away. You know I'm a sucker for your mom's recipe." Yes, if there had been one thing Dean had appreciated about Beth during their very short (but not short enough) marriage, it was her cooking.
Distractedly, Kensley told him, "I got it from Whole Foods."
"Well, at least you're not brand loyal to your Aunt Annie," Dean cracked, the only one laughing at his joke. "I don't think I could stomach something made in the Fine & Frugal deli."
It was Rio who told him off. "I don't care if your daughter put actual pig slop in front of you, you'd eat it, say thank you, and ask for more." With his arms wrapped around Beth and Marcus from behind, Rio leaned over and against her shoulder while he talked, turning to transfer his glare onto Aaron. "And, seriously, nothin' from you? You're gonna let him talk to your wife like that?"
"It's fine," Kensley spoke instead. "Dad has a sensitive stomach." If that was true - and, honestly, Beth had no idea, it was the only thing sensitive about Dean Boland.
Beth had no interest in anything, though, besides, "which one is it?"
"Mom, what are you…?"
"It's University of Michigan, right," Beth asked impatiently. "I know we talked about Purdue at one time. You could live there and come home on weekends, but, really, U of M is only ranked one spot lower for engineering graduate programs, and you'd be able to…."
"Oh my god, Mom!" Kensley cut her off coldly. She almost sounded… angry with Beth. "This isn't about grad school. I'm not going to grad school!"
"Now?"
"Probably not ever!"
Looking first towards Aaron who absolutely refused to even meet Beth's eyes and then towards Dean who almost appeared… smug… at their daughter's announcement, Beth admitted, "I don't understand. What other news could you have for us?"
"Oh, I don't know," Kensley replied sarcastically, earning a frown for her efforts that went completely ignored. "What does a daughter usually want to tell her parents after she's been married for a while?"
"I'd hardly call three months a while," Beth argued.
Dean guffawed obnoxiously, eyeing Rio. "That's rich coming from you, Bethie!"
"We're not talking about me or my relationship," Beth gritted out through her teeth. "We're talking about our daughter's future and her decision, apparently, to just… throw away all of her plans for her career!"
"They were your plans," Kensley countered.
"I never told you to study mechanical engineering," she hotly defended herself. "I never said I wanted you to design cars for a living. That was all you, Kensley." And probably a little more than a small amount of pressure and influence from Dean as well. "I just did everything I could to support you and your choices."
"Yeah, well, now I'm choosing to be a Mom!"
"What?!"
"I'm pregnant," Kensley exploded.
Beth was utterly flabbergasted. And crushed. As her mind struggled to adjust, to make the leap from learning which grad school Kensley had selected to her announcement that she was having a baby, it started to feel like she was underwater. Everything was just a little muffled, blurry, out of reach… but not in a good way, because she knew that she needed to surface, that she needed to breathe. On top of her shock, there was also all of the unresolved tension between Beth and her daughter in regards to Rio and her own secret, too, which it was now even more essential that it remain that way.
"Really," Marcus exclaimed eagerly from her lap. He was practically wiggling with enthusiasm. "Because so…"
"Not now, Pop," Rio cut him off quickly but gently. "This is Kensley's special moment, yeah?"
"No," Beth whispered in surprise, in regret, in fear.
"Yes, actually," Kensley contradicted her snidely. "And you don't get a say in this, Mom, especially if you can't just be happy for me like a normal mother would be."
"I am happy for you," Beth stressed.
And she was! Genuinely. But that wasn't all she was feeling, and it seemed too late to convince anyone at the table that she wasn't anything but thrilled for her daughter. Despite everything that she sacrificed and suffered to have Kensley, Beth had never, not even for a single second, regretted her daughter. And she would love her grandchild just as much. But didn't all parents want more for their children? For Beth, that meant that Kensley should have more opportunities, more education, more dreams, and more success. She struggled sometimes in accepting the fact that maybe she and Kensley viewed life in different ways.
"Well, I think this calls for a toast," Dean announced, slapping his hands against the wooden tabletop before standing and moving towards the refrigerator. While he talked, Dean pulled out the champagne that Beth had bought to celebrate Kensley getting into an engineering masters program, acting like it was his gesture meant all along for this particular news. Beth noticed how easily he moved around the space, how well he knew where things were, and she started to wonder just how much time Dean spent with their daughter and new son-in-law. "I'm going to be the best grandpa ever… just like my Dad would have been for you, Kens, if he hadn't passed away before you were even born." Too bad Beth knew that Kenneth Boland would have been vocally disappointed in getting a granddaughter rather than a grandson… just as Dean had been dissatisfied with having a girl instead of a boy. "I'll teach him to drive, how to throw the perfect spiral, and I'll even share all of my best lines with him." And he was doing it again, assuming it would be a boy and aging the poor kid into a teenager before he or she was even born.
It was Aaron who said, "let's get the baby eating solid food and potty trained first before we start worrying about dating, okay?"
"Are you kidding," Dean responded with a chuckle. "Babies are chick magnets! I'm going to get so much tail as the hot granddad at the park!" Starting to sloppily pour, Dean continued, "and Bethie's a grandma now! That doesn't really fit with the whole neck tat, bad boy vibe you have going on there, Garza."
"There ain't no vibe," Rio mocked Dean's word choice. "If you're pickin' up on somethin', that's on you. Not me."
"Still." Dean just wouldn't let it go. "A grandma? That's not going to help your street cred… or whatever guys like you call it."
"Don't worry 'bout me. My cred's just fine." The response and Rio's confidence was far more layered than anyone but Beth… and maybe Marcus if he could understand what was happening around him… realized.
When Dean returned to the table, balancing all of the flutes at once, he carried enough glasses for four people, obviously expecting Kensley to have some despite her announcement. What he didn't do, however, was open the sparkling grape juice for Marcus or offer Rio a glass of champagne. Beth glared at him. "What," Dean defended himself, shrugging his shoulders after putting the fizzing drinks down. "They shouldn't even be here, and I'm certainly not going to wait on them."
She opened her mouth to argue, to criticize and berate, but Rio prevented her from saying anything by standing up and dismissing, "nah, Mami. He ain't worth it." Having observed where Dean pulled the champagne flutes from, Rio retrieved two more and then grabbed the non-alcoholic equivalent from the fridge, pouring two servings. As he carried them over, he winked at her. "I gotchu, Baby."
Rio moved to switch out her glass of champagne with one containing grape juice, but Beth subtly shook him off. Dean was already mid-speech, not having waited for Rio to finish and get back. " … my little girl is having a kid of her own. It's crazy. But awesome! Now, let's just hope you don't get as big as your Mom did, though! Bottoms up!"
Beth tipped her glass back but kept her lips closed. Setting her glass back down, she found Dean staring at her. "You have to drink, Bethie. It's bad luck if you don't."
"It's fine, Dean," she contended. "I took a sip."
"Ugh. No. You didn't." Without giving her a chance to respond, he challenged, "what, are you pissed about that little crack about your weight? Come on, it was funny! You have to admit that you really porked it on when you were pregnant with Kens." Actually, Beth had struggled to gain enough weight during her pregnancy. "And you love champagne!"
Incredulously, Rio corrected, "dude, she drinks bourbon."
Aaron started to stand. "I think we have some whiskey in the pantry. I'll just…"
"You don't need to do that," Beth quickly reassured him, gesturing for her son-in-law to retake his seat. He did, though he looked decidedly uncomfortable by the whole evening. And Kensley looked suspicious - neither of them enjoying a night that should have been so special for them. Granted, Beth had been caught off guard by the news that her daughter was pregnant and not completely thrilled to learn that Kensley was postponing graduate school indefinitely, but Beth also never wanted to take even a moment of happiness away from her daughter, yet that seemed to be all she did these days. "I'm good, really," Beth stressed, smiling around the table. And she tried to make it as genuine as she possibly could, but something must have still leaked through, because, all of a sudden, Kensley was gasping.
"Oh my god, quit being such a drama queen, Beth, and drink the damn champagne," Dean ordered her like she was his wife, like he had any say at all in anything she did. "This isn't about you, and it's not like you're the one who's pregnant."
Beth didn't say a word. She didn't react. She just stared at her daughter, trying to silently communicate with her that she was sorry, and that she didn't want her to find out this way, but that she wasn't sorry about the baby. And she knew that would be the real sticking point for Kensley - not that she and her mother were pregnant at the same time but that it was Rio's child that Beth was carrying. It already bothered Kensley how involved Beth was in Marcus' life. After being an only child for so long and Beth never dating during her childhood, suddenly, Beth wasn't just seriously involved with Rio; she was also helping him raise his son. Now, the two of them were having a child together, and Beth could just imagine what Kensley was thinking and feeling - that she was almost losing her mother when she probably needed her the most. It wasn't like that at all, but emotions were sticky and complicated, and sometimes people couldn't help but feel one way while their rational minds thought another.
"At your age," Dean mocked, finally catching onto the unspoken and sputtering with laughter. "How is that even possible?"
Rio opened his mouth to respond, but Beth got there first, knowing that none of them needed to hear Rio's answer… but especially not Marcus, not if they didn't want the poor eight year old to be traumatized everytime he looked at his little brother or sister. "Women have babies at my age all the time." He looked skeptical… which wasn't surprising given Dean's insensitivity and lack of maturity. Then Beth had another thought. "Do you even know how old I am?"
"You're… in your forties," he answered both in doubt and with supreme confidence, which… how he managed to combine those two, Beth would never understand.
"I am forty, and I am pregnant, and, frankly, your opinion on the matter is irrelevant and unwanted."
"I can't believe you let some… gang banger," Dean hissed in accusation, "knock you up!" Although he hopefully didn't know exactly what was being said, he could sense the anger in the room, and Marcus started to tense up where he was sitting on her lap. "Or maybe it was the other way around," Dean sneered. "Maybe you trapped him, too."
Beth could feel Rio vibrating in total fury at her back, and she knew she needed to diffuse the situation and get the three of them out of there as quickly as possible. Tapping Marcus on the leg to signal that he should stand, she followed as soon as the eight year old was on his feet. "Our daughter is wonderful, and I love her as much as any mother can love their child, but you were my burden in having her, not my intent." Placing her hand protectively over her lower abdomen, Beth continued, "Rio and I want this baby. We're happy about this baby. And no one," she warned the entire table before returning to her ex-husband, "is going to ruin that or take it away from us… but especially not you, Dean."
Rio and Marcus were already heading towards the front door when Beth spoke directly and only to Kensley. "I am truly sorry that you had to find out this way. Even when I thought I was coming here tonight to celebrate your admission into grad school, I intended to keep my pregnancy a secret from you, and I was even more determined when you announced that you are pregnant, too. Because tonight should have been special for you, and I hate that I played a role in making it any less than perfect."
"A role," Dean scoffed off to the side. "More like you ruined the whole thing."
Ignoring him, Beth had one last thing to say to her daughter. "Maybe I wouldn't have picked this for you now, but I will support and encourage you always. Having a child is the most wonderful thing you will ever do in life, and I am thrilled for you. You are going to be a great mom - the best, even, and you're also going to be a fabulous big sister. None of this may be happening the way we ever thought it would, but that doesn't mean it's not happening the way it's supposed to either."
Beth tried to approach her daughter, lifted her arms to give her a hug, but then Kensley was pulling away and backing up, and Beth froze, gutted. For several seconds, she just stared at Kensley, at her little girl, but Kensley refused to meet her gaze. It was Aaron who, once more, broke the awkward moment. "I'll show you out," he offered softly.
Beth allowed him to silently walk her through the house and to the front door where Rio and Marcus were waiting for her. As soon as Beth was safely delivered, further confrontation and disaster averted, Aaron turned around and left them there without even a goodbye.
"Come on, Mama," Rio encouraged her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and walking them both outside. "Pop's got plans for you."
"Oh, he does," she laughed through the tears that she only just realized were falling. "And do those plans have something to do with ice cream?"
"How'd you know," Marcus gasped and then giggled.
Beth teased him, "all of your plans involve ice cream."
"That's because it's the best, and it makes me happy, and we need to celebrate, Beth. Two babies," he emphasized, and it broke her a little bit that, even after the absolute nightmare that just took place inside of Kensley's kitchen, Marcus could still be so optimistic and loving towards someone who had shown very little interest, let alone kindness, towards him. He was eight, and Kensley was twenty-two, yet it was Marcus who was being gracious and kind. "I'm going to be a big brother and an uncle, Beth!"
That certainly wasn't something a child could say everyday. "You're right," she agreed, nodding her head and pushing aside her regret and sadness. She could feel those things later but not now. "That is something that should be celebrated."
!
Waking up in Rio's bed was as seamless and natural as it was to wake up in her own, and that was what caught Beth off guard, not the unfamiliar loft or the frankly unreal circumstances that preceded her presence there. She was alone, but she could hear Rio in the kitchen. He wasn't trying to wake her, nor was he tiptoeing around his own home. Instead, he was just going about his morning like it was any other, like having her there wasn't any stranger for him than it was for her being there.
Beside the bed on the nightstand, he had placed a new toothbrush; at the foot of the bed on one of his poofs - a term Rio had not appreciated the night… well, a few hours before when they went to sleep (just sleep), he had placed a
very small pile of clothes for her to wear. It contained one of his shirts and a pair of thick socks. That was it. If Beth thought he might be a gentleman and at least give her back her own panties, she was mistaken. And, apparently, he just expected her to climb out of his bed naked and get dressed right there in the bright light of day as he watched.
Beth always could have taken the sheet with her to the bathroom instead, and she contemplated it, but in the end, she thought it was better if Rio briefly saw her flaws from across the expansive space than it would be if he saw her trip over the bedding and make a giant ass of herself. After all, she wasn't exactly the most coordinated person in the world, and she was feeling a little hungover - not from the drinks she shared with Rio the night before but from… what else they had shared. God, she could still feel him
everywhere - her hips, her thighs, her breasts, even her shoulders and arms, but most of all, Beth could still feel him inside of her.
Sitting up, she kept the sheet draped over her lap while she scooted down the edge of the bed far enough to reach his clothes. Button up in hand, Beth frowned, because there was no way she'd be able to button it entirely, and Rio, with first hand knowledge… quite literally, knew it, too. She could feel his gaze on her from the kitchen, but Beth refused to acknowledge his attention or ask for something else to wear. She hooked as many buttons as she could, barely managing to cover anything, and then she stood, grabbing the toothbrush but leaving the socks as she rounded the bed and headed towards the bathroom. Beth even added a little swing to her step, ticking her hips from side to side more than she usually did. If Rio was so determined to see her, then she'd give him a show.
Five minutes later and as fresh as she was going to get without taking a shower, Beth made her way towards Rio. He was standing at his kitchen island, eating leftovers from the night before - obviously having gone downstairs to retrieve the food. He was wearing nothing but a pair of boxer-briefs, though. Beth realized that his streak of exhibitionism had more to do with feeling comfortable in his body (and why shouldn't he?) than it did his desperation for her cooking, but she still found the image of him creeping into the event hall's kitchen in nothing but his underwear an appealing one.
Poking through the albeit rather small spread, Beth couldn't find what she wanted. "What, no sauteed scallops in a spicy red sauce served over linguine?" It was perhaps the least likely of breakfast foods, but Beth knew it was amazing. After all, she'd made it. And she thought it might be a good idea for her to load up on carbs for some immediate energy but then also get some protein for lasting… stamina. The thought alone made her blush, and when she looked up to get Rio's answer, she found him watching her with amusement and pleasure.
"That sounds fuckin' amazing, Darlin', but, nah, this is all there was.""Wait, what? No!" Beth went through a quick succession of emotions: confusion, doubt, disappointment, and denial. And then realization dawned. "Judith!""Yeah, I don't know who that is.""She's Dean's mother," Beth explained, feeling her frustration mount. "She never has anything nice to say about anything I ever make or do, yet she somehow always ends up with my leftovers, and she hasn't been my mother-in-law in over twenty years!""Knowin' how good your stuff is, Ma," Rio practically leered at her. Why did it feel like he was talking about more than just her food? "And how hard you worked on it? That fuckin' sucks. But, like I told you last night, we're done talkin' about your dick ex and any of his people."
Beth couldn't help herself. She had to get one last complaint in. "She better not have used my tupperware! That stuff's expensive, Rio!" But she generally agreed with him. Not only had they discussed the Bolands, but Dean in particular, the night before, but he and his family had already taken far too much of Beth's time and energy over the years, and they just weren't worth it.
"Hmm," he hummed. She couldn't tell if it was in agreement, sympathy, or if he was contemplating something. Rounding the island, he practically stalked after her. Beth took several steps backwards, but Rio kept following… much like the night before, only this time, instead of a wall behind her, the sharp, hard edge of the counter bit into the small of her back. "I see I'm gonna have to distract you."
Biting her bottom lip, Beth wondered, "what do you have in mind?"
One hand slid under the waistband of his underwear, while the other reached around Beth to fondle and play with the bottom curve of her ass. The fabric of his boxer briefs was already strained against his hardening cock, but the addition of his hand pumping the impressive length made it almost see-through, and the hem of the shirt Beth wore, his shirt, barely covered her center and left the underside of her butt exposed. Her throat went dry, and suddenly the airy and spacious loft felt stifling and downright steamy. "Oh god," Beth moaned. Rio had barely touched her so far, and she was already wet and desperate for him - still a little sore from the night before but oh so ready for more: more stretching, more pleasure, more Rio.
It was in that moment when she realized that she didn't have to wait for him to give her what she wanted; she could take it.
Lifting her hands from her sides and placing them on his torso - and, jesus, Rio even had abs… like real ones, ones he used, and not just those super defined yet seemingly just ornamental abs like on the covers of those trashy romance novels she and Ruby passed back and forth with each other - he seemed to think that she was going for his underwear, so he started to push them down his narrow hips for her. And that was great. Beth needed him naked, and she appreciated him making it all the easier for her, but what she really wanted was Rio on the floor beneath her, prone and at her mercy. Swallowing past the nerves she felt at being in control and making demands, Beth told him, "lay down."
She blinked, and then he was displayed out before her - legs wide and parted, arms folded beneath his head. Not knowing where she found the bravery, Beth walked up to his hips and then stepped over him, moving up his body until she was standing with one foot placed on either side of him, legs spread directly over his face so that he could stare up at her, at her bare…
cunt… while she made quick work of removing his shirt. Shrugging it off her shoulders, Beth didn't need to unbutton the wrists, the fabric just sliding off of her effortlessly to puddle on Rio beneath her. He shoved it aside and then spoke."After all your hard work for the wedding, Baby, you should get off those poor, li'l feet of yours, just sit down… right on my face. I'll getchu off while you take a load off, yeah?"
It was tempting - the thought of having that smart, shameless mouth on her, eating
her for breakfast, but Beth wanted to be full again. She'd had orgasms over the years while she was alone. She had her fingers, and she had toys, but nothing, nothing, was quite like having a man's dick inside of her. Or maybe there was just something about this particular man's dick, but either way, she wanted that experience again. And again. And again.
And
now."I have a better idea," Beth told him as she walked her way once more down his body, stopping, though, once she was standing around his hips. Then, in one fluid motion that, quite frankly, she was proud of, she sank at the knees, using one hand to catch and balance herself, while the other held her body open. Beth took Rio's impossibly hard and leaking precum cock in one powerful, greedy thrust.
He bottomed out inside of her with an almost pained, "fuck, fuck, fuck!"
For Beth's own part, her eyes rolled back into her head, and she whimpered through the initial pain. God, it hurt
so good. And the sexual bliss just sort of swept through, building and building in her center until she was forced to ride it, her hips' rocking at first slowly but then, with every undulation, going faster, and harder, and deeper, and just… more. She would have rode them both to orgasm if Rio didn't reach out and, with a harsh grip on her right ass cheek and left thigh, drag her to a complete stop. "Shit, Elizabeth. I'm not wearin' anythin'."
She knew that he had kept his clothes on the night before, but Beth assumed that was more about the time and the place and less because Rio was at all shy about his body, and finding him in just his underwear that morning after he raided the kitchen
two floors down proved as much. So, she was confused when she said appreciatively, "I know." In fact, she was wondering just how long she'd be able to keep him naked. "Neither am I.""I meant we're fuckin' raw, Sweetheart." To illustrate his point, Rio braced his feet on the floor beneath him and bucked his cock up into her.
It felt so good that it still took Beth a moment to fully realize what he meant. Then, scrambling off of him, she rushed to apologize, "oh god, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry. I didn't… think. I just… I wanted..."
"And I wanted, too, Mami," he reassured her, sitting up far enough to retrieve a condom where he had it discreetly tucked under a plate on top of the island. "But I don't just wanna get you off; I also wanna keep you safe. So, we're gonna wrap it… at least for now, yeah?""Yes. Please." To all of it. To using condoms. To protecting each other. To the implications that Rio kept making that they weren't just having a (now extended) one night stand, that this was perhaps going somewhere between them.
It took him only a few, well-practiced seconds to roll the condom on. As soon as he was covered, Rio spit in his hand and then brought it down to rub against the dry rubber, jerking himself off in the process as well. "Now, bring that tight, wet, and what I can only think has to be the sweetest pussy ever back over here, Ma. Ride my cock. Take it. Use it. And I'll make you cum so hard that it'll only ever be my name in your mouth whenever you get off from now on whether I'm with you or not. And I better fuckin' be with you, yeah?"
Well, when he put it like that, who was Beth to deny either
of them? Bending over and pushing her arms together to better emphasize her already impressive chest, Beth gave Rio a tantalizing view while she batted his hand away from his dick. Once it was again ready for the taking, she dropped to her knees… only, this time, she swallowed him gradually, wiggling her hips from side to side and back and forth as she oh so slowly took him inside of her.
Just as she had hoped, her little show inspired Rio to cup and caress her breasts. But he didn't seem content with squeezing and stroking the mounds, with pinching her nipples, so he also sat up, taking one of the beaded buds into his mouth, alternating laving against her with his tongue and suckling her. The change of positions forced Beth to wrap her legs around his waist, practically enfolding her body around his, and it changed the angle in which he entered into her and in which she accepted him. It also forced her mound right up against his groin, deliciously stimulating her clit.
Both of them tried to drag out their releases as long as possible, wanting to both build each other's pleasure but also just wanting to remain so close for as long as they could. But eventually the sensations became too much. After delaying and denying it for so long, the pleasure came suddenly, crashing over Beth, and then the wave of her orgasm was pulling Rio right along with her. But it didn't stop with that first brilliant burst. It kept going… like echos. Even at its faintest, in that last tingle of warmth, Beth was still left breathless, panting and already planning when she'd be able to have him again.
!
Absolutely everything was different about Beth and her life, but the process of a prenatal doctor's appointment still felt old hat. They had gone through both her medical history and Rio's, and that part of her visit was different at least. Dean had never once attended any of her check-ups with her when she was pregnant with Kensley. But Beth refused to spend her entire pregnancy juxtaposing Rio with her ex-husband, because there just was no comparison.
Beth had been worried slightly that it would be embarrassing to have Rio in the room with her while she was receiving her physical exam, but he had somehow found a balance between respectful and attentive. It helped that there was a rhythm to prenatal appointments. Blood pressure, height, weight. Breast exam. Pelvic exam. Screenings for heart, lungs, and thyroid health. The idiom that something was just like riding a bike was used for a lot of things, but Beth never thought it would apply to anything in an OB-GYN office, yet that's how it felt nevertheless.
"Alright, so let's talk due date," Dr. Smythe suggested, wheeling away from where Beth was reclined on the exam table. Picking up her pen to make some notes on Beth's chart - Dr. Smythe still used physical files but would also later make everything digital as well, she teased, "do you want to make it easy on me and just tell me when you conceived?"
"I mean, I can't be sure," Beth answered. And she couldn't. To say that she and Rio enjoyed a very healthy sex life was quite the understatement.
"Nah, Mami," Rio argued, shaking his head in disagreement. "You know it was that mornin' after your daughter's wedding when you took me bare at first on the kitchen floor, 'cause we just couldn't wait a second longer."
Blushing profusely, Beth could not look at her doctor when she confirmed, "I wouldn't have put it exactly like... that, but he's not wrong."
"Well, to be sure, do you know the date your last period started?"
"May 15th," Beth stated easily. Beth didn't track her period that closely… as evidenced by the fact that she found herself unexpectedly pregnant, but once she became aware of her condition, she quickly calculated the date… and then her due date for herself. At Dr. Smythe's raised brow, she explained, "I know that women have babies in their forties all the time. I just never thought I'd be one of them." In fact, three months ago when she conceived, before Rio, Beth had believed she'd be alone for the rest of her life.
Smiling gently in understanding, her OB-GYN wondered, "how does February 19th sound?"
"Sounds like a great fuckin' day to have a baby," Rio stated, absolutely pumped to be a father again. His enthusiasm was contagious, and she needed it, because not only was it a little scary to be having another baby so many years after her first and only child… up until now, at least, but it was also so very strange to be becoming a mom again at the same time as her twenty-two year old daughter.
Dr. Smythe laughed. "Alright then." Moving back to Beth's side, she said, "let's do the fun part next, get you all happy and distracted before drawing blood, discussing screenings for fetal abnormalities, and talking about your symptoms."
As the doppler was prepared, Beth shared, "I don't have a single symptom, not even a flicker of nausea or breast tenderness. My skin has never been clearer, I've never had more energy, and I'm still just as interested in my… regular activities… as I've always been - if not more so."
"We're not done yet, and of course I will continue to monitor you, but so far I have seen nothing to indicate that, because of your age, this pregnancy is actually high risk. For now, I'm going to keep you on a regular appointment schedule. At the first sign of difficulty or complication, though, I will have your butts in here every day if I have to, and you'll get an ultrasound at every check-up if necessary. Do we understand each other?"
"It's like we sharin' the same brain, Doc," Rio answered for them.
"My threat has been leveled, so let's listen to your baby's heartbeat."
Having done this before, Beth didn't think it would affect her as much to hear her baby's heartbeat. With Kensley, her tears were of mixed emotions. Of course, she had already been emotionally attached to her child, but she was also seventeen years old and completely petrified. But listening to that galloping miracle hit her just as hard as it did twenty-three years before. Tears immediately gathered in her eyes, pooled, and then rained down her cheeks. Beth couldn't blame the strength and depth of her emotions on her hormones, though, because Rio, while not crying, looked just as amazed, just as awestruck, as she felt. He'd been pretty involved when Rhea, Marcus' mother, was pregnant, but they weren't together, and Beth was learning how big of a difference it made to be experiencing such a magical moment with someone you loved. She could only imagine that Rio was coming to that same conclusion.
"We're at exactly 140 beats per minute," Dr. Smythe told them. "As your physician, I must tell you that there is absolutely no truth to the idea that heart rate can predict gender, but as your friend? That's literally right down the middle, so I don't know if it is a boy or a girl, but I can tell you that it appears you're going to have one stubborn baby. Now," she looked between them, smirking, "who's taking the blame… or the credit, depending upon how you look at it… for this trait?"
"He is," Beth immediately responded… only to realize that Rio had reacted just as quickly, just as strongly, and just as convinced that he was right.
"Oh, that's definitely all on Elizabeth."
God, their child was going to be positively impossible.